Albuminuria in Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes is not only an indication of renal disease, but a new, independent risk-marker of proliferative retinopathy and macroangiopathy. The coincidence of generalised vascular dysfunction and albuminuria, advanced mesangial expansion, proliferative retinopathy, and severe macroangiopathy suggests a common cause of albuminuria and the severe renal and extrarenal complications associated with it. Enzymes involved in the metabolism of anionic components of the extracellular matrix (e.g. heparan sulphate proteoglycan) vulnerable to hyperglycaemia, seem to constitute the primary cause of albuminuria and the associated complications. Genetic polymorphism of such enzymes is possibly the main reason for variation in susceptibility.

A follow-up of 1475 Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic patients diagnosed before 1953 (815 males, 660 females) and before the age of 31 years was conducted. All patients were seen at the Steno Memorial Hospital and were referred from all parts of Denmark; 91 (6%) could not be traced. The rest (94%) were followed until death or for at least 25 years; 249 (17%) were followed for greater than 40 years. Clinical diabetic nephropathy developed in 531 (41%) of the 1303 patients in whom sufficient information was available regarding proteinuria. Other causes of proteinuria were found in 3%, and 57% did not develop persistent proteinuria. The prevalence of diabetic nephropathy was 21% after 20-25 years of diabetes duration followed by a decline to 10% after 40 years. Two incidence peaks of the onset of proteinuria were seen, one after 16 and another after 32 years duration of diabetes and was low after 35 years duration. The cumulative incidence was 45% after 40 years of diabetes. A male preponderance was seen among patients with nephropathy. A significant difference in the pattern of annual incidence rates of diabetic nephropathy was seen, when groups with onset of diabetes before 1933, between 1933-1942, and 1943-1952, respectively, were compared. An association between daily insulin requirement and nephropathy incidence was found. Patients with nephropathy had a much poorer survival than those without proteinuria; 40 years after onset of diabetes, only 10% of patients who developed nephropathy were alive, whereas greater than 70% of patients who did not develop nephropathy survived.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

We followed 1,134 patients with Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes, diagnosed between 1933 and 1952, until 1982 or death or until their emigration. Their age at onset of diabetes was under 31 years. Information concerning the development of persistent proteinuria was sought in every case. In 104 cases, the data were either questionable or the patient could not be traced. Twenty-nine patients developed non-diabetic proteinuria. Among the remaining 1,001 patients, 406 developed persistent proteinuria (350 died) and 595 did not (166 died). The incidence of persistent proteinuria was highest among men; it decreased with increasing year of diabetes onset from 1933 to 1952, and decreased with increasing age at onset. The relative mortality was extremely high among patients with persistent proteinuria, increasing to a maximum of about 100 at age 35 years. Patients not developing proteinuria had a relatively constant low relative mortality of about 2. The decreasing incidence of persistent proteinuria and the decreasing mortality with increasing calendar year of diabetes onset resulted in a 50% increase in life-expectancy among patients diagnosed in 1950 compared with patients diagnosed in 1935. In patients who developed persistent proteinuria, relative mortality was higher in women than men at all ages. In patients who did not develop proteinuria, relative mortality was similar in men and women after the age of 35. Uraemia was the main cause of death in patients with persistent proteinuria, although cardiovascular deaths were more frequent than in patients without proteinuria. Thus, proteinuria is associated not only with death from uraemia but also from cardiovascular disease.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

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Patients with Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes without proteinuria were studied to define those patients who will later develop persistent proteinuria (more than 0.5 g protein/24 h). Two investigations were performed; 71 patients were studied longitudinally for 6 years and another 227 patients were studied cross-sectionally. All were less than 50 years of age and had developed diabetes before the age of 40 years. At entry into the study they had no proteinuria (Albustix method), had normal blood pressure and urinary albumin excretion rates less than 200 micrograms/min (normal less than or equal to 20 micrograms/min). The best predictor of persistent proteinuria or an albumin excretion rate greater than 200 micrograms/min was the initial urinary albumin excretion rate. During the longitudinal study, seven patients with an urinary albumin excretion rate of more than 70 micrograms/min at the start of the study developed persistent proteinuria or an albumin excretion rate greater than 200 micrograms/min. In contrast, only three out of the remaining 64 patients with urinary albumin excretion rate less than or equal to 70 micrograms/min developed urinary albumin excretion rate greater than 200 micrograms/min. Patients with an urinary albumin excretion rate greater than 70 micrograms/min are thus at risk of developing diabetic nephropathy. We designate this stage of renal involvement incipient nephropathy. Patients with incipient nephropathy were further characterized in the cross-sectional study. Compared with normoalbuminuric patients, patients with incipient nephropathy had increased systolic and diastolic blood pressure, but normal serum creatinine. The glomerular filtration rate was higher than normal in patients with incipient nephropathy though not different from that of normoalbuminuric patients.